Category: Art

Walking with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus
Art, Easter, Easter

Walking with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus

One of the ways that we come to know God in a deeper way is through our imaginations. Religious art has been a great inspiration to me in my religious life. As I focus on a great painting, I am forced to slow down and to see things in a fresh and deeper way. In this painting by Matthias Stom, we are invited to sit with Jesus and two of his disciples as he reveals himself to them at a meal on resurrection evening. Continue reading Walking with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus

Still Doubting: Some thoughts on Doubting Thomas
Art, Doubt, Easter, Faith

Still Doubting: Some thoughts on Doubting Thomas

One of the purposes of art is to make the gospel live for the people in the artist’s time.  Caravaggio accomplished this for his generation, and John Granville Gregory did the same almost 400 years later.  Borrowing Caravaggio’s composition of The Incredulity of Thomas, Gregory updated the characters to look like a group of young men you might see hanging out at a sports bar. Continue reading Still Doubting: Some thoughts on Doubting Thomas

Four Paintings of the Crucifixion, #5 (bonus painting)
Art, Crucifixion, Good Friday, Holy Week

Four Paintings of the Crucifixion, #5 (bonus painting)

In every other painting of the crucifixion, Jesus is the focal point with the crowd looking at him. To the best of my knowledge, Tissot is the only one who has ever painted the crucifixion from Jesus’ perspective. Although Jesus is still at the center, we can only perceive him through the eyes and body language of those gathered around him. Continue reading Four Paintings of the Crucifixion, #5 (bonus painting)

Under the Gourd Vine
Art, Narrative Lectionary Year 3, Reflections

Under the Gourd Vine

The open question at the end of the book is “Will Jonah actually change?” The book doesn’t tie things up in a nice tidy bow, but leaves things hanging with a question that must be answered by both Jonah and also ourselves. God asks us, “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” Continue reading Under the Gourd Vine